SINGAPORE - Oil gained for the first time in four days in New York as signs of shrinking stockpiles in the United States stoked speculation that demand is recovering in the world's biggest crude consumer.

"Economic data in the US and Europe are getting better than before, and this is encouraging a lot of positive responses from investors putting money into commodities," said Ken Hasegawa, a commodity sales manager at the Newedge brokerage in Tokyo.

Crude for March delivery gained as much as 45 cents to reach $84.77 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was at $84.53 at 1:23 pm Singapore time on Wednesday.

Bloomberg News

(China Daily 02/17/2011 page17)